Ferodo has introduced new South African manufactured Eco-Friction copper-free taxi brake pads specifically for the industrydominating Toyota Quantum minibus. The new environmentally friendly products have been independently tested and proven to not only improve braking performance when compared with their rivals, but also increase pad and disc life.

“The advantage of the new material is that the brakes work at lower temperatures and, as you know, wear is directly related to heat,” says Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ technical training expert Roberto Cravarezza from Mondovi, Italy. “In a range between 200°C and 250°C you have less wear and the friction level is high so the pad and disc life are both improved.”

Cravarezza adds that one very important factor is that new pads should be fitted properly and allowed to bed in for about 200 km before being used hard. “Also important is that installers often don’t torque wheel nuts correctly,” he adds. “This was okay in the ‘70s, ‘80s and maybe part of the ‘90s, but cars today are much more complex and it’s essential to tighten the wheel nuts properly and in the correct sequence with a torque wrench.” Incorrect tightening can result in disc warpage and inconsistencies in disc thickness.

Federal-Mogul Motorparts conducted extensive field research into the new environmentally-friendly Eco-Friction brake pads, and the results highlighted the dangerously poor conditions of the brake systems in a number of taxis on South African roads. Many use cheap inferior brake pads, some of which are low-quality counterfeit products bearing accepted brand names. To help combat these frauds, the packaging of the new Eco-Friction Taxi brake pads include various features to satisfy buyers that they are in fact getting the quality product they’re paying for. This includes a unique security label that can be scanned and verified using a smart-phone app. The image of the pad itself on the box is exactly the same as the component inside, and the Taxi logo uses the South African flag to indicate that the quality product inside is manufactured locally. Ferodo’s Eco-Friction technology was developed in response to pending legislation in Washington state and California, aimed at completely banishing copper from brake pads by 2025. This is because of claims by environmentalists that brake dust containing various metals washes off road surfaces and into rivers, eventually making its way into the ocean. Interestingly, the legislative target of 2025 was met by Federal-Mogul Motorparts in 2015 - an outstanding achievement.The acquisition of Federal-Mogul by Tenneco Inc. of Illinois went ahead as planned on 1 October 2018. Over the next year or so Tenneco Inc. intends to form two new, independent companies, one as a powertrain technology company, and the other an aftermarket and ride performance specialist. Combined pro-forma revenues are expected to top $17 billion.